Their Halcyon Days
by Chiera
Summary: Most teenagers believe they are invincible, thinking that they have forever. But with the war raging all around them, they knew better. Yet, even in the uncertain times, they wanted to make the most of the days they were given.


**Their Halcyon Days**

**Summary:** Most teenagers believe they are invincible, thinking that they have forever. But with the war raging all around them, they knew better. Yet, even in the uncertain times, they all wanted to make the most of the days they were given.

**Rating:** M

**Universe:** Canon

**Genre:** Drama, Humour, Romance

**Diclaimer: **_Harry Potter_ and its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I am but a fan, writing for other fans, for absolutely no profit.

**Chie: **I accidentally Jily, is this bad?

Wait, let me explain! Few months in to my stay in England, a sudden urge to re-read the Harry Potter series hit me. However, as my copies of the books were hundreds of miles away, safe in my bookcase back home, I contended myself by reading fanfics instead. Specifically, JamesxLily fics. And all went downhill from there. Because the more fics I read, the more I started to think how _I_ would do it, how I would write their story. Before I knew it I was up to my ears in background research even though any and all plot bunnies were blatantly absent. And then one night when I was trying to sleep, the opening sentence popped into my head. More sentences followed.

So here we are.

Prologue

Sitting in the corner of the sofa, resting her chin on her knees, she was failing miserably in the fight against boredom. She kept staring at the TV, flicking through the few channels in rapid succession.

The front door opened and closed, and without turning, Lily called a "Welcome home" to her mother, trying in vain to make her voice sound cheerful rather than dejected.

But instead of her mother's warm voice, there was a loud sniff behind her back. Lily bit back a groan and her already abysmal mood turned instantly sour.

"Brooding on your own again, I see," her sister said in a disapproving tone.

"Nice to see you too, Petunia," Lily replied, still keeping her eyes on the TV screen.

"It's like every time I see you, you're just moping around the house," Petunia continued, ignoring her response.

"Well sorry to bother you," Lily said lamely, getting up from the sofa. "I'll just go to mope in my room then."

Turning around, she saw the thin line Petunia's lips were making. There was an odd look in her sister's eyes as she regarded her. It wasn't disgust or bitter jealousy like usual.

"I'm surprised you're not off running around with that Snape boy like you usually do every summer," Petunia remarked.

Lily's stomach instantly plummeted all the way down to her knees.

"What's the matter?" her sister continued. "You two finally broke up?"

A thousand responses sprang to Lily's mind, ranging from snarky retorts to vehement insistence how she and Snape hadn't been dating.

But in the end, she could not summon the strength. She knew that while picking a fight with her sister might grant her a moment of reprieve, she would only feel worse afterwards.

So she simply forced out a small, broken "Yeah", and then hurriedly pushed past her sister, sprinting upstairs to the safety of her room.

If she had not been so caught up in the turmoil of her emotions, of the hurt, of the still fresh loss of her best friend, of trying to hold back the tears, she might have noticed that Petunia hadn't really taunted or sneered at her like usual and that, in fact, it was very uncommon for her to initiate a conversation with her to begin with. But Lily remained oblivious to this rare show of sisterly concern. She missed the soft tap of footsteps on the carpet right behind her door, where someone paced nervously for a moment before finally giving up and turning away.

Lily curled up in her bed and hugged a pillow close, finally letting out the tears she had been holding for weeks.

Lily Evans was having the most miserable summer in her life so far. In usual circumstances, she would barely be able to wait for autumn to come, for the first of September when she would finally board the Hogwarts Express and start a new year at school. But even though she was having a terrible summer break, she was not looking forward to its end.

In fact, for the first time in her academic career, she was feeling apprehensive about returning to Hogwarts. Last year had been an absolute disaster. The tensions had been running high all year long, what with the stress of the O.W.L.s, with James Potter – the arrogant bullying git – suddenly deciding he fancied her, being a complete arse every time she as much as walked past him. And then there had been the ever growing strain eating on her and Severus' friendship, as it was starting to become more and more apparent that their chosen paths had irreparably diverged.

All three of these factors had finally culminated in an utter catastrophe at the end of the semester – in the middle of the exam season, with the stress levels running high, James Potter had chosen to be an utter toerag, and bully Severus simply out of boredom. Lily of course had intervened, and things had gone downhill from there. James had tried to blackmail her to go out on a date with him. She had let her temper get the best of her and told him exactly what she thought of him and publicly announced her preference to the Giant Squid. Severus had been furious and had not appreciated her help at all – in fact, he had hurled a deadly insult in her face. After that, this time in private, she had argued with him, too, telling Severus that their friendship had taken the final blow it could suffer.

That was why she had stayed indoors most of the summer. Though it made her feel confined, and bored out of her mind, she had not dared to risk bumping into Snape if she ventured outside. They had been friends for seven long years until four odd weeks ago, Lily had ended it. She had had no choice. She had run out of excuses for Severus. She had had enough. She knew it was too late, that they had grown apart, that they had chosen their paths. But it still hurt, because he had been her best friend.

Lily glanced at her desk, hidden underneath a heap of books, quills, letters and rolls of parchment. So many times, she had wanted to ease her pain by telling her friend how miserable she was feeling about it all. A few times, she had even tried to start a letter. But she could not get the words out, because she knew there would be no use telling her friends because none of them would understand. Not even the kind and sweet Mary MacDonald, not after having almost been hexed last year for fun by Mulciber, that vile friend of Snape's.

So when she had finally written a letter to Mary, a Gryffindor witch in her year, Lily had chosen to stick to more neutral topics than Severus Snape. She had complained how bored she was; she had complained about Petunia, she had talked about her O.W.L. scores.

Lily had done well enough, though she was a bit disappointed with her E in Defence Against Dark Arts. She was sure she could have done better, but she had still been upset by the lake side fiasco that had taken place after the theory exam, that she had not performed up to her usual par in the practical examination in the afternoon. Still, despite her disappointment, she couldn't really complain. After all, 'E' had been the lowest score she had got, and she had only two of them. Her other friends, Gwen Douglas and Marlene McKinnon, had already sent her letters to poke fun out of her multitude of 'O's. Just yesterday, a letter had arrived from Marlene, stating that she wasn't at all surprised that "_Miss Prefect – I mean Perfect – Evans would get equally Perfect grades"_.Lily had no trouble at all, picturing the short blonde witch snorting and rolling her eyes. Gwen had dryly reminded her that as it was summer break, she should take the chance to give her poor brain a rest and take a leave from over-achieving.

Lily welcomed the teasing; it was just one of the ways they showed affection. They were always laughing at Gwen for how crazy she got about Quidditch, at Marlene for her laziness and always making a mess of their dormitory, at Mary for being a clumsy mother hen.

Still, writing to her friends and reading their letters only granted her a short moment's reprieve from the sheer, mind-numbing boredom. Being trapped in the house meant there were only so many things she could do – and Lily had already finished her homework for the summer and re-read through her entire bookcase. It didn't help much either that she was mostly home alone. Her father was at work. Her mother was at home, but she spent half her time in the garden and the other half busy with housework; and it felt like every other day she would visit a friend or have a club meeting or something other of the sort. Petunia was hardly ever at home. She had found a summer job and any spare time she had was spent with her friends. Lily was secretly grateful for not having her big sister around, as the two of them did not exactly get along – which was putting it mildly.

Lily sighed and rolled over to her back in her bed. She hugged the pillow closer. Suddenly, she terribly missed the summers of her childhood, when she and Petunia had been inseparable. The faraway days filled with laughter and warm sunshine, rolling on the green grass and catching butterflies, exploring the neighbourhood and playing in the nearby park. They had been so close, then. Now, if Petunia acknowledged her at all it would be just cold glares and loud, disapproving sniffs sent to her direction. It broke her heart that she had lost her sister, partially because of her best friend; and now she had lost her best friend, too, and her sister still hated her.

For a fleeting second, Lily was tempted to get up from the bed, sit down at her desk, and write a letter to Mary asking if she could come over to stay with her. But she didn't. After all, she spent most of her year away at school with her friends. Summers were when she was able to spend time with her family. She could talk with her mom and help her around in the garden; she could play cards with dad and watch the silly detective shows together with him. She could be polite and civil to Petunia when the whole family gathered for dinner. She loved her family, and she _wanted_ to spend with them the little time she could. And really, in the end the reason why she was feeling so gloomy and miserable had nothing to do with her family, and everything to do with Severus Snape.

Lily drew a trembling breath and angrily brought her hands up, wiping away her drying tears. She was done, she swore to herself. No longer would she shed tears over Snivellus, these were the very last ones she would spare for the memory of their broken friendship.

Her resolve finally found, Lily pushed herself out from her bed and walked over to her desk. She dragged a spare bit of parchment closer, dipped her quill into her ink bottle, and started to answer the pile of letters from her friends.


End file.
